--- title: "Manage WordPress Comments Using WP-CLI" description: "The ability to work with your WordPress website(s) from the Command Line Interface (CLI), is one of the many great features available with WordPress Hosting by InMotion Hosting. For instance, using..." url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/wordpress/wp-cli/manage-wordpress-comments-using-wp-cli/ date: 2017-12-20 modified: 2024-03-11 author: "InMotion Hosting Contributor" categories: ["WP-CLI"] type: post lang: en --- # Manage WordPress Comments Using WP-CLI ![](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Manage-WordPress-Comments-using-WP-CLI-1024x538.png) The ability to work with your WordPress website(s) from the Command Line Interface (*CLI*), is one of the many great features available with [WordPress Hosting](https://inmotionhosting.com/wordpress-hosting) by InMotion Hosting. For instance, using the **WordPress Command Line Interface** (*WP-CLI*) command: *wp comment*, you can manage comments that visitors have left on your blog posts and pages, directly from the command line. In this guide, you will learn how to view, moderate, edit, and delete WordPress comments using **WP-CLI**. ## View Comments One of the most important tasks involved in managing your WordPress blog, is viewing the comments that visitors/users write. WP-CLI commands make this process simple while working from the command line. Follow the steps below to learn how to **view comments**, using the *wp comment* command. 1. [SSH into your server](/support/server/ssh/shared-reseller-ssh/) as the cPanel user that owns the website you want to view WordPress comments on. 2. Use the cd command to switch to the [document root directory of your website](/support/website/where-to-upload-files/). Example: cd **public_html/my_website** **NOTE: **Be sure to replace **public_html/my_website** with the actual path to the document root directory of your website. 3. Run the following command: wp comment list The output of this command by default, will display a table of the WordPress comments for your website, as shown in the example output below: ![wp comment list command example output](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/edu_wp-cli_moderate-comments_wp-comment-list-example-cli-output.png)   4. Using the *wp comment list* command these fields will be displayed by default for each comment: comment_IDcomment_post_IDcomment_datecomment_approvedcomment_authorcomment_author_email Although this information is useful, it does not provide the actual content of the comment. However, it does provide the *comment_ID*, which is needed to view the additional details of each comment. Using the *comment_ID* with the *wp comment* command, you can view the content of the comment. This is accomplished by specifying *comment_content* as the field in your command. The following format is an example of how to do this: wp comment get **$comment_ID** –field=**$field** **NOTE: **Be sure to replace **$comment_ID** with the *comment_ID* value (found in the previous step) of the comment you want to view details for. To see the content of the comment, replace **$field** with the option: **comment_content**. exampl3@example.com [~/public_html]# wp comment get **1** --field=**comment_content** Hi, this is a comment. To get started with moderating, editing, and deleting comments, please visit the Comments screen in the dashboard. Commenter avatars come from Gravatar. Now that you have reviewed the content of the comment you can moderate it. The next section will continue to use this comment as the example in the instructions to **moderate a comment**. ## Moderate Comments Moderating comments is important if you have *Comment must be manually approved* set in WordPress’s Discussion Settings. When enabled, a comment must be approved before it appears on your website. This is a good precaution to take, to avoid allowing visitors to post unwanted/unfiltered content in your comments unknowingly. In this case, you will need to approve the comment prior to it appearing on your website. Simply follow the instructions below to learn how to moderate the comment we viewed in the previous section’s example. ### Approve 1. [SSH into your server](/support/server/ssh/shared-reseller-ssh/) as the cPanel user that owns the website you would like to moderate WordPress comments on. 2. Use the cd command to switch to the [document root directory of your website](/support/website/where-to-upload-files/). Example: cd **public_html/my_website** **NOTE: **Be sure to replace **public_html/my_website** with the actual path to the document root directory of your website. ``` Locate the *comment_ID* as instructed by the directions in the "View Comments" section. Run the following command: ``` wp comment approve **$comment_ID** **NOTE: **Be sure to replace **$comment_ID** with the *comment_ID* value (found in the previous step) of the comment you want to approve. exampl3@example.com [~/public_html]# wp comment approve 1 Success: Approved comment 1. Since the comment has been **moderated** and **approved**, it will now appear on your website. However, if you moderate a comment that is clearly Spam, you could **mark a comment as Spam**, using WP-CLI, by following the steps below. ### Mark as Spam 1. [SSH into your server](/support/server/ssh/shared-reseller-ssh/) as the cPanel user that owns the website you would like to moderate WordPress comments on. 2. Use the cd command to switch to the [document root directory of your website](/support/website/where-to-upload-files/). Example: cd **public_html/my_website** **NOTE: **Be sure to replace **public_html/my_website** with the actual path to the document root directory of your website. ``` Locate the *comment_ID* as instructed by the directions in the "View Comments" section. Run the following command: ``` wp comment spam **$comment_ID** **NOTE: **Be sure to replace **$comment_ID** with the *comment_ID* value (found in the previous step) of the comment you want to mark as spam. exampl3@example.com [~/public_html]# wp comment spam 2 Success: Marked as spam comment 2. Now that you have moderated your comment to mark it as Spam, it will not display in your website. Marking comments as Spam, helps to identify which comments can be deleted, without disrupting the desired comments. However, if you accidentally mark a comment as Spam, you can unmark it. Simply follow the instructions below to learn how to **unmark a comment as Spam**. ### Unmark Spam 1. [SSH into your server](/support/server/ssh/shared-reseller-ssh/) as the cPanel user that owns the website you are moderating WordPress comments on. 2. Use the cd command to switch to the [document root directory of your website](/support/website/where-to-upload-files/). Example: cd **public_html/my_website** **NOTE: **Be sure to replace **public_html/my_website** with the actual path to the document root directory of your website. 3. Locate the *comment_ID* as instructed by the directions in the [“View Comments” section](#view-comments). 4. Run the following command: wp comment unspam **$comment_ID** **NOTE: **Be sure to replace **$comment_ID** with the *comment_ID* value (found in the previous step) of the comment you want to unmark as spam. exampl3@example.com [~/public_html]# wp comment unspam 2 Success: Unspammed comment 2. ## Edit Using the *wp comment* command, you can edit various fields to update comment details. The steps below will guide you through how to **edit a comment**. 1. [SSH into your server](/support/server/ssh/shared-reseller-ssh/) as the cPanel user that owns the website you want to edit WordPress comments on. 2. Use the cd command to switch to the [document root directory of your website](/support/website/where-to-upload-files/). Example: cd **public_html/my_website** **NOTE: **Be sure to replace **public_html/my_website** with the actual path to the document root directory of your website. 3. Locate the *comment_ID* as instructed by the directions in the [“View Comments” section](#view-comments). 4. Run the following command: wp comment update **$comment_ID** —**$field**=**$value** **NOTE: **Be sure to replace **$comment_ID** with the *comment_ID* value (found in the previous step) of the comment you want to edit. Also, refer to the table below for the optional **$field** you can update to the **$value** you want, using WP-CLI. exampl3@example.com [~/public_html]# wp comment update 4 --comment_author=A WP Admin Success: Updated comment 4. Now that you are familiar with updating a comment, you can update any of the available fields using this same method. The available fields are: comment_ID comment_post_ID comment_date comment_approved comment_author comment_author_email comment_author_url comment_author_IP comment_date_gmt comment_content comment_karma comment_agent comment_type comment_parent user_id ## Delete Deleting comments is as simple as editing or listing them. Follow the steps below to learn how to **delete a comment** using WP-CLI. 1. [SSH into your server](/support/server/ssh/shared-reseller-ssh/) as the cPanel user that owns the website you want to delete WordPress comments on. 2. Use the cd command to switch to the [document root directory of your website](/support/website/where-to-upload-files/). Example: cd **public_html/my_website** **NOTE: **Be sure to replace **public_html/my_website** with the actual path to the document root directory of your website. 3. Locate the *comment_ID* as instructed by the directions in the [“View Comments” section](#view-comments). 4. Run the following command: wp comment delete **$comment_ID** **NOTE: **Be sure to replace **$comment_ID** with the *comment_ID* value (found in the previous step) of the comment you want to delete. exampl3@example.com [~/public_html]# wp comment delete 2 Success: Trashed comment 2. Congratulations! You are now familiar with how to moderate comments from the command line, using the *wp comment* command. To learn more about using **WP-CLI**, be sure to check out our [Education Channel](/support/edu/wordpress/wp-cli/).